Daily Beast Contributors Weigh In on Super Tuesday Results

Santorum took three states, but Romney captured the real win: Ohio. Howard Kurtz, Patricia Murphy, and more Daily Beast contributors weigh in on Super Tuesday's results. Plus, see the full results from all 10 states.

Updated Apr. 24, 2017 12:19PM ET / Published Mar. 06, 2012 11:56PM ET

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So what sort of “win” was that? Here’s Argument A: a win is a win is a win. That’s true in sports. If LSU plays horribly against Middle Tennessee State, but kicks a field goal with :03 left to win, well, LSU won. It’s over, and time to focus on Auburn. By that logic, Mitt Romney won Ohio and sails forward. And Argument B: this isn’t sports. This isn’t about earned performance on a field of play. It’s about what voters think. And if voters think that the guy who outspent the other guy by 10 or 12 to 1 and was supposed to have this locked up weeks ago is a guy they just barely agreed to push forward to the next fight, then it’s not much of a win at all. The Romney team will obviously spin Argument A, but Republicans all over the country, if they have any sense, are going to come out of Super Tuesday even more nervous about Romney than they were.

Romney Wins Ohio CliffhangerBy Howard Kurtz Mitt Romney hung on to win the Ohio primary in a nail-biting finish early Wednesday morning, but Rick Santorum stayed on his heels by beating the battered frontrunner in Tennessee and Oklahoma.

The split verdict on Super Tuesday, the biggest day of the Republican race, means Romney will still have Santorum to kick around, and Newt Gingrich for that matter. Gingrich stayed alive by winning his home state of Georgia.READ MORE >>

---------- Newt’s Georgia WinBy Patricia Murphy Newt Gingrich basked in the glory of victory Tuesday night, even if it was only for his home state of Georgia. Reveling in a huge 23-point win over Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum in Georgia, the former House speaker gleefully painted himself as the future GOP nominee and the only one ready to take on President Barack Obama and win.

“We're going to go on to Tampa and win the nomination!” Gingrich told a rowdy crowd in his former House district in Cobb County, Ga., at the same hotel where he declared victory for the House Republican takeover in 1994.READ MORE >>

---------- Santorum Stays AfloatBy Andrew Sullivan Santorum won three states and basically tied in Ohio. That keeps him afloat with some forward direction, especially given the upcoming primary states where he has a demographic edge. The fact that Santorum did this well despite being buried by Romney ads and money in Ohio is a real achievement. Romney, for his part, still cannot win blue-collar votes and still cannot nail down evangelical support. He comes away with many more delegates, but few bragging rights. In Ohio, he won everywhere Obama will win in the fall. READ MORE >>

Oy. Could Tuesday night have been any more brutal? Talk about a Super Tuesday designed to give all parties involved a massive ulcer.

Except Newt Gingrich, of course. His campaign is still deader than disco, but since Sheldon Adelson doesn’t seem to care and the money is still flowing, why not let the speaker bask in his Georgia win? Whoo-hoo! 47 percent! Way to go!

After Super Tuesday, people should really stop comparing Mitt Romney with John Kerry. Yes, both are rich, socially maladroit, and from Massachusetts. Both have a history of being less than steadfast on important issues. But if Democrats weren’t ecstatic about Kerry in 2004, most still found him broadly acceptable. He had a history as a dashing liberal hero, returning from Vietnam to become a leading voice against that hated war. Certainly, he disappointed liberals by voting for the Iraq invasion, but he otherwise shared their values.